October 2009 Archives

Specialist expertise is slow-grown, rooted in natural ability and will-to-learn, but our specialisms are conjoined. The conjunction. The in-between. The bit where we talk to each other. And where we make things together.

To many ‘homesteaders’, GeoCities feels like it has been around since the dawn of the web; in fact it was established in late 1994 by Messrs David Bohnett and John Rezner.

An institution, in every sense of the word, GeoCities established a novel model for mapping the real world of everyday life onto the virtual world of the web. According to Wikipedia:

In its original form, users selected a ‘city’ in which to place their web pages. These ‘cities’ were named after real cities or regions according to their content – for example, computer-related sites were placed in ‘SiliconValley’ and those dealing with entertainment were assigned to ‘Hollywood’ – hence the name ‘GeoCities’.

Acquired by Yahoo! a decade ago, GeoCities today, sadly, closed its doors. We’re sad to see it go.

Test your web sites and applications using A/B testing and share that knowledge with others, making everyone smarter in the process.

Courtesy of the combined talents of Bokardo, Performable and KISSmetrics - no small A/B task force - ABtests features no shortage of A/B Tests, helping you to improve your conversions and learn from others.

Created in just five days as a part of an experimental gameplay project, Canabalt combines simple, yet challenging gameplay with precision crafted pixel art to create an immersive and addictive environment.

Tusj is a beautifully hand-drawn typeface based on Matthew Carter’s Georgia courtesy of Norwegian designer Magnus Cederholm. Available in both TrueType and PostScript format, it’s free for both personal and commercial use. Lovely.

Quotes on Design is a side project by the very talented Chris Coyier, the man behind CSS Tricks (an equally inspiring site). Serving up a generous helping of quotes on design, curated by Chris Coyier. Our favourites include 37signals, “Inspiration is perishable,” and Saul Bass’s, “Design is thinking made visual.”

Corey Holms has worked across a broad spectrum of design for over a decade, undertaking identity, type and entertainment design projects for an international roster of clients. Holms has designed award-winning projects for, amongst others, Depeche Mode, The Sopranos and Enemy of the State in addition to the creation of numerous typefaces distributed by Veer and YouWorkForThem.

Holms’ isn’t all corporate, however, his recent Flickr set of Food Dye images created, “primarily of food dye, vegetable oil and water,” are beautifully executed and showcase what can be achieved using minimal means and maximum imagination. Get them at Blanka.

Liz Danzico of Bobulate imparts some watertight words of wisdom on the importance of two underused, but extremely effective words: thank you. Danzico states:

The formula is quite simple: when someone does something for you: say thank you. Nothing could be simpler, and nothing could be more valuable.

Regarding thanks, Danzico points out that the credit for Bobulate’s recent redesign goes entirely to Jason Santa Maria. His design is classical, beautifully crafted and well worth taking a look at, not least for the use of @font-face to enable some restrained typography using David Březina’s beautifully designed typeface Skolar.

Featuring works by a glittering array of designers including Marian Bantjes, Non-Format and, of course, Herb Lubalin, Lubalin Now is a fitting tribute to one of the true giants of twentieth century typography.

Type lovers will be delighted to discover that Typedia has just announced Font Fridays, “a series of regular giveaways to the Typedia community.”

To get the ball rolling Typedia have partnered with Veer to offer a license to Cordial Bloom, an illuminated display face described by Veer as, “one part illuminated capitals, one part Art Deco, and one part Marian Bantjes.”

As if this wasn’t enough they’re also giving away a copy of Thames and Hudson’s excellent Jan Tschichold – Master Typographer (no self-respecting typographer should be without a copy).

His is a strange universe of the fictitious: signage programs for mythical cities, book jackets for unwritten novels, product literature for items you cannot buy, broadcast graphics for live sporting events that you can’t quite identify.

After immersing himself completely in the world of Tungsten, Hennings captures the typeface’s essence perfectly, “Is Tungsten the hard-boiled detective in a shearling coat, the English dandy with a walking stick and a vintage convertible, or the small-town judge who delivers a very personal style of justice?”

Some key figures: $7,800 Billion for the ‘worst case’ estimated total cost to the US government of the current financial crisis; $3,000 Billion to cover the Iraq War; and $465 Billion to feed and educate every child on earth for five years.

The Periodical

Buy The Book

Learn how to build hand-crafted web pages using well-structured XHTML for content and CSS for presentation.
Buy from amazon.com or amazon.co.uk.

HTML and CSS Web Standards Solutions

Learn how to build hand-crafted web pages using well-structured XHTML and lean and efficient CSS. By embracing a web standards approach, HTML and CSS Web Standards Solutions enables you to create web sites that not only look great in all modern browsers, but are also accessible to a wide variety of audiences across a range of platforms - from those browsing on everyday computers, to those accessing the web on the latest, emerging mobile devices.

The Authors

In addition to their role as lecturers in interactive design at the University of Ulster at Belfast, where they have been active in promoting a web standards-based curriculum, Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson are practicing designers and digital artists. Their work has featured in a variety of design books and magazines alongside numerous internationally respected designers and they are regular speakers at design conferences and workshops worldwide.